


We Found Bodies in the Woods

by ooopo123



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Elements of Modern Fantasy, Gen, Time Players
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 04:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16111244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ooopo123/pseuds/ooopo123
Summary: He kept popping up everywhere she looked. It seemed as if the world was directing them towards each other, but why?





	We Found Bodies in the Woods

The first time that Aradia saw him was from across the park, his red hoodie and bleach white hair standing out starkly against the green of the shrubs behind him. Looking at him, she found it hard to draw her gaze away. Like he was a beacon of light in pitch darkness, and with hair like his he sort of was.  

The dead pigeon in his hands might have something to do with why she couldn't look away too. 

He was crouched down next to the public toilets, presumably where the poor avian had taken it's last head-dive into the tiny windows of the building, searching through his back-pack with one hand and holding the bird with the other. Eventually he pulled out a opaque white container. The bag fell over as he set the tupperware down on the ground, reaching to pull off it's lid before pausing. He looked between the the tub and the pigeon slowly, noticeably worrying his lip before mouthing something and ripping off the container's lid; dumping it's contents on the ground and the dead bird in as replacement. 

Then just as suddenly as she'd seen him, Dead-Bird Guy was gone into the thicket of the trees that lined the edge of the park. Leaving only a half-eaten sandwich and apple in his place. 

-_-_-_-_- 

3 AM, an ungodly hour to most-. Well, no, to absolutely everyone but some just ignored the urge to crawl under the covers and sink into oblivion. Instead they sat in the middle of an empty road under one of the few working street lights, waiting. For what? Aradia wasn't really sure if she was honest. Curiosity to see if anyone else would be up and on this street at the same time as her? Or maybe it was some otherworldly intuition that brought her here. Perhaps she just wanted to see if some drunken driver would come barreling around the curb; killing her on impact. 

Who's to say, really? 

Miraculously her cat curiosity paid off, as she could make out the silhouette of someone walking down the pathway in the dark. They slowed down significantly, seeming to spot the crazy bed-headed girl sitting in the middle of the asphalt; the magical spot of a road most definitely not meant for sitting. But there she was, in the middle of the road, sitting. What a rebel. 

They stopped under the glare of the only other working street light revealing Shadow-Dude to in fact be Dead-Bird Guy. Shocker. _(Aradia ignored the part of her whispering that she'd already known it was the guy from the park.)_

Aradia and Dead-Bird Guy watched each other for a long moment. Or, she thought he saw looking at her? It was kind of hard to tell with him wearing shades in the middle of the night and all. Suddenly, Bird-Guy waved at her, causing Aradia to grin and wave back enthusiastically. He smirked, before continuing to walk, melting into the surrounding shadows.  

No matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find him again, only hear the sound of his fading footsteps on the pavement. 

-_-_-_-_- 

Next time she saw him, he was in the supermarket of all places. Of course he was! Everyone needed to eat and where were you going to get food if not for your local oversized farmers market! It just seemed… _Wrong_ for him to be there. If you asked why she wouldn’t be able to tell you, just that it _was_. 

Dead-Bird Guy was lugging around one of the store’s customary shopping baskets, the ones they provide even though 99% of all its patrons opted for a cart no matter how little they were planning to buy in the first place. 

She could hear him talking… Rapping? a first in any case. His words were whispered underneath his breath, more of a consequence of boredom or being lost in one’s own thoughts than of the conscious decision to start rapping to yourself in public. It seemed to be about something only being a matter of time? Connections? Gods? As he moved down the aisle towards her she could hear what he was saying more clearly, but every word he uttered seemed to go in one ear and out the other no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on what he was saying. 

Deciding to take that as a warning not to eavesdrop, she continued on with her shopping. Which mostly consisted of long-lasting canned foods; a lot of them. It was only once she was all paid for and walking home did she remember that she was in dire need for a cake for Sollux. Her best friend. Whose wriggling day happened to be tomorrow because _of course it was_. 

Someone tapped her on her shoulder; to which she whipped around in alarm. Only for there to be no one behind her, nor anyone even near her after a quick glance around. It was only then that she noticed the bag at her feet. Cautiously she set down her own shopping bags to pick it up; low and behold there was a store-bought marble cake, Sollux’s favourite for reasons Aradia couldn’t understand. Look! The seal was still unbroken too! 

And she knew it probably wasn’t the smartest idea to feed her best friend a mysterious cake that appeared out of no where, _buuut_ beggars can’t be choosers, right? If he died of food poisoning or something, her bad. 

She silently thanked Dead-Bird Guy. Simply for lack of anyone else she could think of to thank. _(Because who else could it have been but him? Right? It was him, of course it was hi-)_

-_-_-_-_- 

It was on their ***REDACTED*** meeting that she finally got his name. Well a name, not his real name of course. Fate doesn’t work like that. 

It was at a coffee-shop, as cliché as that sounds. She'd stopped there on her way back from the library, various archaeology and culture books tucked into her vaguely occult-themed crossbody bag; topped with a delightful atomically correct heart charm attached to it. A present from Sollux.  

Aradia was scribbling out notes on death rituals in various cultures into her journal when someone sat down next to her, it took her a bit to actually notice though. When she looked up there he was, as he always seemed to be, Dead-Bird Guy. He smiled, she smiled back. 

"Nice to meet'cha.” He greeted, slouching down in his seat, drink already in hand; some apple flavoured thing from what she could smell. “It’s nice to finally see Crazy-Road Girl in the daylight.” Aradia snorted; a fairly unattractive action, she’s sure. Not that she cared. 

“And it’s cool to see Dead-Bird Guy not picking up dead pigeons in the park.” Said guy choked a little on his sip of applely-drink; coughing a little to clear his air ways. 

“Damn, you saw that, huh?” He slid further down in the seat. “Can’t say I’m sorry ‘bout that though.” 

“Don’t need to be.” She assured him, a little worried she might have ruined her greeting. “I’m just a bit curious about what you did with the little guy.” Bird Guy perked up at this, setting down his drink and actually turning to face her. 

“Well, I preserved him you see.” His shades glinted a little, which was odd due to the overcast weather. She didn’t even question it. “I’ve actually got pictures of him, wanna see?” She did indeed very much wanna see. Dead things were right up her ally. 

A couple pictures of the dead pigeon turned into looking through almost the entirety of Dead-Bird Guy’s phone gallery; which consisted of a variety of wet and dry preserved animals, skeletal reconstructions, amateur attempts at taxidermy and the odd living creature which had caught his eye. Aradia thoroughly enjoyed every one; their conversation even more. 

It was only once he’d closed out of the last picture, a robin sitting on his own disturbingly pale hand, that Dead-Bird Guy noticed the time. 

“Aw shit, I was meant to be somewhere like 20 minutes ago.” Running a hand through his hair, he popped open the Pesterchum app on his phone. “Do you have Pesterchum or something? I’d like to talk to you again, ya’know?” She did indeed ‘know’; she enjoyed talking to this mysterious guy who seemed to share her own interest in dead things. A rarity, honestly. 

Aradia typed in her handle in his search bar, sending herself a friend request, before bidding her new found friend good-bye. She heard the tell-tale _ding!_ Of her phone going off in her bag. Pulling it out she saw the friend request from Dead-Bird Guy or should she say TurntechGodhead? 

It was then that she realised that they never exchanged actual names. 

Oh well. 

Next time. 

-_-_-_-_- 

‘Next time’ turned out to be a week later, when they met face-to-face once again after speaking online practically non-stop. They just seemed to get each other. _(For as much as she loved Sollux, platonically mind you, it was just so great to have someone she could click with instantaneously; they were on the same wave length; the same **rhythm** ; the same **beat** ; the same **t i m e**.)_

They hadn’t planned to meet up; they never had to. Earth itself seemed to warp in order to bring them together, and always at the perfect moment. The timing was always, always utterly _perfect_. _(It has to be, you know this Aradia. Timing is **key**.)_

Condesce Forrest wasn’t for the faint of heart, or so they say. ‘They’ being the older more superstitious folk of the city and the impressionable young kids. Apparently there were executions, murders, torture and the like in this area’s past. To Aradia it just enhanced her adventure. 

Seems as it did the same for Dead-Bird Guy. 

He was sat on the old rotting wood bench that the city council had paid for; probably because they were so detached from the general population they didn’t know more people would willingly run 10 kilometers in the height of Summer than go anywhere near Condesce Forrest. Dead-Bird Guy and Crazy-Road Girl shared a mischievous glance before making their way down the single overgrown path. 

**Author's Note:**

> My first work for Homestuck using two of my favourite characters! (I, too, am very into dead things.)


End file.
